A golden year for Petaluman

<p>It has been quite a year for Petaluman Jennifer Fujii. She got married, completed an eight-year quest to become the best aerobic gymnast in the United States and is in the process of buying a new business. </p><p>In May, the former Jennifer Nowak married John Fujii. The wedding and the honeymoon were meticulously planned around the athlete’s training for the USA National Aerobic Gymnastic Championships.</p><p>In July, Fujii made her planning, training and hard work pay off by winning the gold medal in the national championship competition in Las Vegas. Fujii was leading by just three tenths of a point after the semifinals, but had an outstanding routine in the finals to win the national title.</p><p>Back in Petaluma, Fujii is not only managing the Lakeville Fitness Center, but she, her husband and their partner, Michael George, are in the process of buying the center.</p><p>It has been quite a trail for a determined athlete who just eight years ago, in her first national competition, finished next to last.</p><p>Two years ago, she was third in nationals and last year was in second place after the semi-finals, only to miss a landing on one of the mandatory elements and withdraw from the competition.</p><p>“I went back with a vengeance,” she says.</p><p>This year, she says she felt like a winner even before her scores validated her efforts. “There is nothing better than getting off the stage and knowing you couldn’t have done any better. No matter what happened (with the scores), I was happy.”</p><p>Aerobic gymnastics is a combination of 12 physically and mentally demanding floor moves that demand flexibility and dynamic strength. The elements are jelled by choreography into one minute and 50 second routine that demands extreme stamina and total concentration.</p><p>Fujii trains at least 15 hours a week in Petaluma with former world champion Terri Rivero and periodically travels to Atlanta to work with her head coach and choreographer, Dale Duncan.</p><p>As much as she works out physically, Fujii says the mental aspect of her sport is even more important. </p><p>“There isn’t much difference between the top (athletes). It is a matter of who can hold it together in front of the judges and the audience,” she explains.</p><p>“I do a lot of visulaization. I repeat lots of positive quotes. I want to be where I absolutely believe I can win,” she says.</p><p>Although she has an athletic background, competing in gymnastics and swimming as a youngster, she has no formal dance training and admits that part of the competition takes effort.</p><p>“I have to work at it,” she says. “You have to work until it becomes second nature.” </p><p>Fujii grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Petaluma six years ago so she could be near her coaches. She says she has found a home. </p><p>Now that she has a national title, Fujii is ready to take on the world. With the national championship goes the right to compete in international competition and she is currently preparing for the World Open Championships in Mexico in December.</p><p>An even bigger goal is to defend her national title next year and follow that up with a top-12 finish in the United States World Open. That is an extremely difficult double because the U.S. Nationals and the U.S. World happen back-to-back, with no break between competing for the national title and facing the world’s best aerobic gymnasts. </p><p>Since aerobic gymnastics is the only Federation of International Gymnastics discipline not now included in the Olympics, Fujii is convinced that could happen as soon as 2012,</p><p>Now 33, she contends she could still be competing by then. “I am going to continue to compete as long as my body improves and I’m climbing up in the rankings,” she says.</p><p>(Contact John Jackson at acsports@arguscourier.com)</p>